Wire feeding mechanism



United States Patent Inventors Ernest lppiscb Belleville; Russell T.Kleinbauer, Bloomfield, N.J. Appl. No. 776,688 Filed Nov. 18, 1968Patented Dec. 22, 1970 Assignee Westinghouse Electric CorporationPittsburgh, Pa.

a corporation of Pennsylvania WIRE FEEDING MECHANISM 9 Claims, 3 Drawingfigs.

[1.8. CI. 140/715, 72/66 Int. B2 ll 3/027 Field ofSearch 140/715, 149;72/66 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,890,736 6/1959 WittekPrimary Examiner-Lowell A. Larson Attorney-A. T. Stratton, B. R.Studebaker and W. D. Palmer ABSTRACT: A wire dispensing mechanism incombination with a coil winding machine for feeding wire in themanufacture of coiled lamp filaments in which a spool of wire is carriedby a reciprocating carriage. The carriage reciprocates perpendicular tothe spool axis in timed sequence with the coil winding operation. Theaxis of the spool is further continuously rotated at a fixed speed aboutits midpoint in a plane perpendicular to the direction of reciprocationwhile also continuously rotating about its axis as the wire is pulledtherefrom.

SHEET 3 0F 2 PATENTEB UEE22 ism cow 2. 3E ov WIRE FEEDING MECHANISMBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the manufacture of coiled filaments for avariety of types of lamps it is necessary that filament wire becontinuously fed to what is known in the art as a coil winding machine.The operation of a coil winding machine generally involves the grippingof the cut end of the filament wire as it projects from the coil windinghead by a reciprocal tail stock. The tail stock normally carriesadjacent the wire gripping jaws what is known in the trade as adisappearing mandrel. As the mandrel and jaws move away from the coilwinding head the coil winding head forms the coil about the mandrel.When the coil is formed the tail stock moves rapidly away from thecoiling head to produce two coil legs and stops abruptly. This operationcalls for the rapid starting and stopping of the motion of the tailstock as well as anintermittent rotation by the coil winding head whichinduces a great amount of torque into the remaining wire coming from thewire holding spool. This rapid starting and stopping as well as theturningof the spool imparts much stress and strain to the wire and infact on many occasions will cause the wire to break due to the inertialeffects acting on the wire. It has been a practice in the past, in orderto avoid some of these effects, to rewind the wire to be used in thefilament forming operation from shipping spools which hold approximately9,000 meters of wire to smaller bobbin spools which hold approximately300 meters of wire. This respooling of the wire also inducescharacteristics into the wire which are different from those which thewire originally evidences on the shipping spool. As presently operatedwith the 300 meter spools, the machine must be shut down and the bobbinspools changed twice during an 8-hour shift. If wire could be wounddirectly into filament coils from a shipping spool carrying 9,000 metersof wire it would be necessary to change the wire carrying spools onlyonce in every 8-hour shifts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to wire dispensingmechanisms for coil winding machines and more particularly to areciprocating continuously rotating wire dispensing mechanism for use inconjunction with coil filament winding machines.

An object of the present invention is to provide a wire dispensingmechanism for use in conjunction'with coil winding machines whichsubstantially reduces the tow torque induced into the wire during thefilament winding operation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a wire feedmechanism for use in conjunction with coil winding machines in which theback lash, stress and strain normally induced into the wire aresubstantially eliminated.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of a wiredispensing mechanism for use in conjunction with a coil winding machinein which wire is continuously being pulled from the supply spool and thesupply spool is continuously rotating even when the coil winding head ismotionless.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a wiredispensing mechanism for use in conjunction with a coil winding machinein which the supply spool of wire traverses substantially the samelongitudinal path as that traversed by the mandrel of the machine duringthe winding of the coil filament.

The foregoing objects, and others, are accomplished in accordance withthe present invention by providing in combination with a coil windingmachine which continuously winds filament coils about a reciprocablemandrel by means of a rotating coiling head mechanism; a wire dispensingmechanism which comprises a carriage mounted for reciprocal motion on abase and having a pair of upright support members which support arotatable yoke mounted therebetween. A first drive means is also mountedon the carriage and connected for imparting continuous rotary motion tothe yoke which in turn carries a wire containing spool for the yoke.Second drive means are connected to the carriage for impartingreciprocal motion to the carriage in a timed relationship to the linearmotion of the tail stock mechanism of the coiling machine. Thecontinuously rotating yoke imparts a counterclockwise torque to the wirebeing continuously drawn from the rotating spool and thiscounterclockwise torque is removed from the wire when the coiling headwinds the filament on the mandrel. The constantly reciprocating carriageinsures that wire is continuously drawn from the rotating spool evenwhile the coiling head is stationary and hence not pulling wire from thespool by influence of its motion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The foregoing objects, and others,along with many of the attendant advantages of the present inventionwill become more readily apparent and better understood as the followingdetailed description is considered in connection with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a coil winding machine and the wiredispensing mechanism of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the wire dispensing mechanism of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the cam mechanism of FIG. I.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now in detail to thedrawings, wherein like reference characters represents like partsthroughout the several views, there is shown on the right-hand side ofFIG. 1 a typical conventional coil winding machine which consistsessentially of a driven lathe head assembly generally designated 10 anda tail stock assembly generally designated 12. To the left of the coilwinding machine afiixed to the same bed 14 is the wire dispensingmechanism of the present invention generally designated 16 whichoperates to feed wire to the coil winding machine in synchronizationwith the operation of the coil winding machines.

Although the coil winding machine is old and well known to those skilledin the art a brief description of the environment in which the wiredispensing mechanism of the invention operates is believed to be inorder.

When a coil is'finished it is cut from the supply wire adjacent the endof the coiling head and removed by a pickup mechanism none of which areshown. The cutting mechanism is so situated that a short length of wireextends from the end face 18 of the coiling head mechanism 20. The wireis held in this position by means of a clamping member 22 which isforced against the wire by the coaction between the break arm 24 andstop member 26. The tail stock operating mechanism 28 is then moved tothe left toward the coiling head through operation of the crank arm 30operating in'response to a cam drive mechanism (not shown) similar tothat illustrated in FIG. 3. A pair of gripping jaws in the end 32 of thetail stock operating mechanism 28 are impelled by springs 34 behind thetail stock and controlled by cams which cause the gripping jaws to openwide as they move toward the coil head. When these jaws are adjacent thecoil head the jaws close and grip the projecting end of the filament fora sufficient length to form a filament leg to be used in the mounting ofthe filament within the lamps. During this operation disappearing typemandrel 36 has also been advancing until the mandrel has entered fulldepth into a fine center hold in the coiling head. At this point thecoiling head begins to rotate and the drive mechanism simultaneouslyimparts motion to the arm 30 which slowly draws tail stock mechanism 28away from the coiling head thus producing a wound coil about the mandrel36 as it is withdrawn from the small hole in the center of the coilinghead. When the desired number of turns have been made by the coilinghead the coiling head stops. At this point the lever arm 30 in responseto a sharp fall in the cam causes the tail stock mechanism to moverapidly away from the coil rotation about an axis perpendicular to theaxis of rotation of winding head 20 to form a straight filament lengthwhich when cut in half forms the second leg-of the coiled filament justcompleted and the lead leg for the next coil which which will be grippedby the clamping jaws 32 at the beginning of the next coil winding cycle.

Spur gears 38 and 40, in conjunction with a drive mechanism (not shown),impart the rotational motion to the coiling head 20 in timed sequencewith the reciprocal motion of the tail stock mechanism. As illustratedin FIG. 1 an adapter 42 has been added to facilitate the introduction ofwire from the wire dispensing mechanism 16 into the coil windingmechanism or more particularly to the lathe portion of the coil windingmechanism. This adapter replaces the prior art small 300 meter spoolthat was previously mounted at this point on the coil winding mechanismand rotated in that position coincident with the coiling head 20. Inthepast only a small spool could be employed because of the weight, theexcessive torque imparted to the wire by the rotating coiling head andthe stop and start movement imparted in jerking succession by thevarious gripping and pulling operations involved in coil windingoperation.

The wire dispensing mechanismof the present invention eliminates each ofthese problems and permits wire to be mounted on the coiling machinedirectly on the 9,000 meter shipping spool upon which it is standardpractice to ship wire from the wire drawing operation to the lamp coilmanufacturing operation.

Referring now to the left-handportion of FIG. 1 and more particularly toFIG. 2, the novelwire dispensing mechanism of the present invention willbe described in detail. A 9,000 meter shipping spool 44 is mounted forrotation on an axle 46 between two parallel arms of a closed yoke 48.The yoke. 48 is mounted for rotation by the shafts 50 which extendsthrough bearings in end plates 52 of the carriage generally designated54. The yoke 48 is rotatably driven through the left-hand shaft 50 bymeans of a variable speed DC motor 56 coupled thereto by coupling 58.The DC motor 56 is mounted on mounting plate 60 which is secured to theleft-hand side of the carriage I 54 by abracket 62. The. carriage [54including themotor mounting plate 60 is mounted for reciprocal movementon a support plate 64 which is secured to. the machine bed 14. The meansfor mounting the carriage'54 for reciprocal movement on the supportplate 64 includes a pair of parallel rods 66 which extend throughbearinged apertures 68 inthe upstanding support members 52 of thecarriage. The rods 66 are supported by upright members 70 on each end ofthe support plate 64.

A pivot support member 72 is mounted on the "end of machine bed 14 at73. Pivotally mounted at the other end of the pivot support member 72 isa bellcrank 74. One arm, 74a, of the bellcrank 74 extends from the pivotpoint to a pin and slot connection on the underside of the carriage 54.The other arm, 74b, of the bellcrank 74 carries a cam roller 78 whichcoacts with a rotatable cam 80. The cam 80 is mounted for rotation onthe machine frame 14 and is driven by the same driving mechanism thatdrives the cam which operates lever arm 30. The rotatable cam 80 has anidentical configuration to that of the cam which actuates the lever 30and hence imparts substantially the identical motion to the carriage 54as that which is imparted to the tail stock mechanism 28.

A spring 82 is attached to a projection on the machine base 14 at oneend and at its other end is secured to the upstanding arm 74a of thebellcrank to urge the bellcrank in a clockwise direction as illustratedin FIG. 1 and hence forces cam roller 78 into continuous positivecontact with the cam 80.

In operation, a shipping spool 44 is mounted on the closed yoke 48 bymeans of the axle 46 and hence will rotate in the direction indicated bythe arrow X in 'FIG. 1 when wire is pulled therefrom. The variable speedDC motor imparts continuous rotation to the closed yoke 48 for a reasonthat will be later described. When the disappearing mandrel 36 is in itsfar left position in the fine center hole in the coiling head and themove to the right as the coiling head begins to rotate to form the.coiliin response to operation of the drive gears 38 and 40.

about 270 of rotation of the cam as well as its twin cam which driveslever arm 30. In a specific embodiment of this invention, for examplethat illustrated in FIG. 3, the fall is 0.406

inch in the first 270 of rotation of the cam 80. At this point the coilis wound and the coiling head is stopped and as .describedpreviouslythetail stock mechanism 28 moves rapidly the distance of .two coil leglengths. The carriage also moves the same distance due to acomplementary 0.406-inch fall in the next 20 of rotation of cam 80. Eachof the cams then traverse a l0 dwell while the finished coil is beingcut off from the wire supply and-removed. The next motion imparted I bythe cam ,80 and its complementary tail stock driving cam mechanism iscaused by a 0.8l2-inch rise in the next 60 of cam rotation which drivesthe 'carriage and the tail stock rapidly back to their cycle startingposition with the carriage all the way to the left and tail stockadjacent the face of the coil windingmechanism with the disappearingmandrel reinserted into the fine center hole in the coiling head face.As will be apparent, the contour of the cam causes the carriage to moveone-half of its total distance-in a first direction for the first 270 ofcam rotation, the second half of its total distance ina first directionfor the next 20 of cam rotation, rest for the next l0of cam rotation,and move its total distance in a second direction opposite to said firstdirection for the last 60 of cam rotation.

The reciprocal motionof the carriage 54 which is identical withreciprocal motion'of the tailstock mechanism 28 avoids an abrupt pullingor stopping of the wire as it proceeds through the coil winding process.

The speed at which the yoke 48 is continuously rotated is slightly lessthan therotational speed of the coiling head 20 and should be varieddepending on the turns per inch of coil desired and the diameter-of thewire. These parameters must be determined emperically with respect tothe individual coil type and the size of the coil being wound. Theprinciple involved in the rotating of the carriage yoke 48 in acontinuous fashion at slightly less than the rotational speed of thecoiling head 20 is to permit continuous rotation of the yoke but stilloffersubstantially total removal of the torque induced into the wire bythe coiling head through an over torqueing of the wire in oppositedirections as the process proceeds. Although the coiling head imparts agreater torque to the wire than that which is taken out during theactual coiling portion of the coil winding operation by rotating theclosed yoke, the continuous rotation of the closed yoke during thoseperiods when coil winding head 20 is not rotating over compensates andimparts a slight torque in the opposite direction which will then betaken out when the coiling head rotates again to form a coil. The netresult is hence a flip-flop type torqueing of the wire as it is removedfrom the spool. This minimal amount of torqueing has no adverse. effecton the final coiled filament; Of course, the rotatable mounting of thespool within the closed yoke 48 is necessary to permit the wire to befed from the spool to thecoil winding machine.

As will be apparent from the foregoing the wire dispensing mechanism of'the present invention provides a fully synchronizedand automatedmechanism for feeding filament wire to filament coil winding machines inwhich there isno abrupt changes in motion through pulling or clamping ofthe wire at the coiling head end which is not totally compensated for bymovement of the carriage. Furthermore, continuous rotation of the yokeeliminates the buildup of excessive torque on the filament wire whichcan and has changed optical and electrical characteristics of thecompleted lamp filament.

Since various changes maybe made in the above described apparatuswithoutdeparting from the spirit thereof, it is intended that all mattercontained in the foregoing description and as shown in the accompanyingdrawings, shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

We claim:

1. In combination with a coil winding machine which continuously windsfilament coils about a linearly reciprocable mandrel through a rotatingcoiling head mechanism, a filament wire dispensing mechanism comprising:

a base;

a carriage mounted for reciprocal motion on said base and having a pairof upright support members thereon;

yoke means mounted for rotation between said upright support members;

first drive means mounted on said carriage and connected to said yokemeans for imparting continuous rotary motion to said yoke means;

a wire containing spool mounted on said. yoke means for rotation aboutan axis perpendicular to the axis of rotation of said yoke; and

second drive means for imparting reciprocal motion to said carriage intimed relationship to the linear motion of the mandrel of saidcoiling-winding machine.

2. The wire dispensing mechanism according to claim 1, wherein a pair ofparallel guide rods are mounted on said base and said carriage isjournaled on said rods for sliding movement thereon.

3. The wire dispensing mechanism according to claim 2, wherein said yokemeans has a closed rectangular configuration and two opposite sidesthereof are mounted for rotation in said upright support members whilethe other two sides of said closed rectangular yoke have journaledtherein the axle of said wire containing spool.

4. The wire dispensing mechanism according to claim 1, wherein saidsecond drive means is a bellcrank connected at one end to said carriageand the other end having a cam roller which coacts with a continuouslydriven cam.

5. The wire dispensing mechanismaccording to claim 4, wherein thecontour of said cam causes said carriage to move one-half of its totaldistance in a first direction for the first 270 of cam rotation, thesecond half of its total distance in said first direction for the next20 of cam rotation, rest for the next 10 of cam rotation, and move itstotal distance in a second direction opposite to said first directionfor the last 60 of cam rotation.

6. in combination with a coil winding machine having a reciprocablemandrel and a coil winding head, which coil winding head winds a coilfilament about the mandrel as the mandrel is withdrawn from the coilwinding head; the improved filament wire dispensing mechanism whichcomprises:

a wire containing spool;

rotatable spool support means mounting said spool for rotation about theaxis of said spool as wire is drawn therefrom;

first drive means for imparting continuous rotary motion to saidrotatable spool support means; I a reciprocable carriage, said carriagehaving mounted thereon said rotatable spool support means and said firstdrive means; and second drive means for imparting reciprocable motion tosaid carriage in timed relationship to the movement of said reciprocablemandrel of said coil winding machine.

7. A wire dispensing mechanism according to claim 6, wherein saidcarriage includes a pair of upright support members and said rotatablespool support means is a closed yoke mounted for rotation between saidpair of upright support members about an axis parallel to the directionof reciprocal movement of said carriage.

8. A wire dispensing mechanism according to claim 7, wherein said seconddrive means includes a bellcrank having its first arm connected to saidcarriage and its second arm car rying a cam roller urged into contactwith a continuously rotatin cam.

9. 1%e wire dispensing mechanism according to claim 8, wherein thecontour of said cam causes said carriage to move one-half of its totaldistance in a first direction for the First 270 of cam rotation, thesecond half of its total distance in said first direction for the next20 of cam rotation, rest for the next 10 of cam rotation, and move itstotal distance in a second direction opposite to said first directionfor the last 60 of cam rotation.

